Wally hated her. That's all that was there, no underlying emotions, no pent up frustration. Just total and utter hatred.
So why was he staring at her like that? With that look of complete infatuation. You know, that look dogs get when they see you eating a steak and they want a piece of it. Not that Artemis would know that was the look a dog gave. She was never allowed one. Her father always said once you start caring for someone, you're a goner, you become weak.
"You don't want to be weak, do you Artemis?" His grip on her pony tail tightened and her scalp felt like it was on fire.
"N-no," she managed to stutter out.
"Good, now pick up the bow and try again. This time DON'T miss."
"Hello! Earth to Arty!" Two fingers snapped in front of her face. The resident hacker was apparently trying to tell her something.
She threw a glare at the boy that rivaled that of Batman's, but what did he care? He lived with the man, " I told you to stop calling me that, Dickie."
"Don't make me regret telling you my identity. I was just reminding you we have a movie night tonight and you promised M'gann you would actually come to this one." He threw her a snarky grin before disappearing into the hallway again. Crap. Don't get her wrong, she loved M'gann, but sometimes she could be on the over side of whelming. M'gann got it in her head to have movie nights every other week because she heard some of the other girls on her cheer squad talking about them. With a sigh Artemis turned around to go to her room and use the phone, not before noticing that Wally had disappeared sometime between her flashback and Dick's reminder.
Artemis smiled at the memory of Dick's revelation as to his secret identity. Wally, Artemis and Dick had been watching the news and Gotham's resident White Knight, Bruce Wayne, and his ward, Richard Grayson, came on tv. It was something about a fundraiser being sponsored by Wayne Enterprises, whatever, Artemis was too busy making new arrows. Suddenly Wally made a joke about how no one knew that the White Knight and Dark Knight were one in the same in the all too silent room. Long story short, it took Artemis less than five seconds to connect the rest of the dots.
"Ha. We'll laugh about this someday," Artemis scoffed. Artemis arrived at her room and quickly called her mother to inform her of the promise to the Martian. Artemis quickly hung up after sharing their mutual "love yous" and made her way to the bathroom to take her shower, her long hair took a lot of work to keep looking nice.
Artemis could feel the warm tears on her face, which meant her father knew she was crying as well. "Long hair is a hindrance in battle. It can and WILL be used against you," he whisper shouted as he took the scissors, cutting her hair close to her scalp. His words emphasized with each tug and snip. Blood began to mix itself with the tears on her face.
"Please," she begged. "Please stop."
"Now, now Artemis. When has begging ever worked," Artemis could hear his smile through her sobs.
Artemis was snapped out of her reverie when she ran into a wall. No, not a wall, a Wally. "Crap, sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," Wally quickly apologized.
"That's obvious. Jeez Kid Klutz, watch where you're going next time!" Artemis snarled from her position under him. He just snorted and smirked, jerk.
"Hey, this is just as much your fault as it is mine!"
"Not even!"
"It so is! You weren't even paying attention, it just looked like you were thinking about something," he got this cute crease in the middle of his eyebrows, wait not cute, definitely not cute. " You looked worried, are you okay?"
What a stupid question to ask. Sweet, but stupid, Artemis thought. "No," she whispered before she could stop herself.
Wally looked down at her like he was contemplating something. He quickly got up, picked her up bridal style and sped off to his room. "What are you doing?!" she shouted.
"Well, I figured that wasn't a conversation we should be having with me on top of you," he stopped and gave her a cocky smile. "Though, I can't say I mind being on top," he threw her a wink. Artemis just scowled at him before heading to the door, that is, until her way was blocked by what she thought was one of the truly soulless gingers in the world.
"Come on, Arty! You said you weren't okay, now spill."
"Like that's ever going to happen," she threw another glare at him, but he just stared back. They stayed like that, glaring and staring, staring and glaring, for who knows how long before Wally finally broke the silence.
"You know we can both keep this up forever, so just tell me what's bothering you," he had a smile playing on the corners of his lips, but his emerald eyes were still tinted with worry.
"Ugh, fine! I was thinking about my dad."
"Your dad?" The mention of her father immediately sobered him up. The archer hardly ever talked about her family, so he was going to take whatever she was giving.
"Yeah, he was a jackass. Is a jackass, but sometimes I just get these awful flashbacks and I can't seem to drag myself out of them," she sat on what seemed to be the only clean area of Wally's room, his bed, and looked down at her entwined hands.
"And that's what you were thinking about in the hallway?" Wally asked gently as he fell onto his bed as well.
"Yeah, pretty much," Artemis refused to face Wally, not wanting to see any of the pity that was undoubtedly written across his face. That's the last thing she wanted from him, pity. Suddenly she felt two strong arms wrap around her shoulders and pull her in. Artemis tensed at first, "Why are you being nice to me? You hate me," she whispered miserably.
"I don't hate you, I could never hate you," Wally's answer shocked her just as much as his hug did. Artemis slowly leaned into the hug and decided that maybe, just maybe, movie night wouldn't be as bad as she originally thought.